Death on métro escalator deemed accidental by police

Engineer says escalator should have stopped

Fabre is on the blue line, but no métro service was disrupted. The STM said this was a police matter and had no comment other than offering condolences to the family of the woman who died.

Photograph by: Dave Sidaway
, The Gazette

MONTREAL — A 48-year-old woman died Thursday morning in the Fabre métro station after it appears her scarf and then her hair got caught in the teeth of the escalator. She was apparently strangled by her scarf.

The incident, which has been deemed an accident by Montreal police, occurred at 9:15 a.m. at the station on the corner of Jean Talon Street East and Fabre Street in the Villeray district, said Constable Jean-Pierre Brabant.

“The woman’s scarf got caught in the escalator and then she bent down to try to get it out and her hair got stuck, too,” Brabant said. “A bystander called 911 and by the time police arrived, she was declared dead,” by an Urgences-Santé paramedic.

“We got a call a little after 9 a.m. that there was a woman found at the bottom of an escalator, trapped, and that there was an article of clothing involved,” said Robert Lamle, a spokesperson with Urgences-Santé. “The woman was in cardiac arrest."

“The firefighters, first responders, got there first and began resuscitation efforts. Our technicians arrived and took over but it was not viable and the woman was declared dead,” Lamle said.

There is an emergency stop button at the top and bottom of the escalator, which is the case for all escalators serving the métro system. Brabant said he did not know whether anyone pressed the stop button while the woman was struggling. He said a witness, whom police are looking for, used an STM emergency phone to call for help. He asked anyone else who witnessed the incident to call police.

An engineer who has been working on these mechanisms for the Sociéte de Transport Montreal for the past nine years told The Gazette escalators are equipped with safety mechanisms that are supposed to prevent this kind of accident.

“The landing plate in the combs at the bottom are supposed to back up when a certain force is engaged,” said the contractor, who did not want his name or the name of his company published.

“These escalators stop all the time, usually jammed with rocks or stones in the winter, or if teens jump on the steps with great force.”

The engineer said the Blue line is the youngest of all four métro lines, and was built in the 1980s making the escalators more than 30 years old. Like the Green, Orange and Yellow lines before them, these Blue line escalators are scheduled to be replaced in the next couple of years, the engineer said.

However, he said upkeep and testing of the mechanism is more important than the age of the equipment.

“The landing plate is kind of sensitive, but these have to be maintained on a regular basis and I’m certain that the coroner will be looking at the maintenance schedules.”

Detectives from the Montreal police reviewed surveillance video from the métro station, but the footage did not shed light on exactly how the incident unfolded, according to police spokesperson Daniel Lacoursière.

The southwest entrance to the Fabre métro station was closed to the public until 2:10 p.m. and the escalators will remain out of service until all safety checks are done, said Amélie Régis, a spokesperson for the Société du Transport de Montréal (STM).

Régis offered condolences to the woman’s family, but said the STM could not comment further while the incident is being investigated, except to say that the STM is co-operating fully with police.

Métro users were shocked by the news that someone could die while doing something most of them do several times a day.

“Personally, I’m really traumatized because I use that escalator every day,” said 13-year-old Philippe Silyutin, who was standing with friends outside the Fabre station entrance while police investigated Friday morning. “I will be very careful now about any threads hanging down or shoe laces, for sure.”

Santa Joseph was shocked to hear of the incident from a reporter.

“An accident like that ... it’s hard to imagine a scarf could cause this. It could happen to anybody, if you don’t realize your scarf is dragging ... It’s just a scarf to protect from the cold. That it could cause a death, your own death. It’s so terrible. I wonder if she had children. I’m thinking of her family.”

One woman who lives right beside the Fabre station said the incident has confirmed her long held fear of escalators, which set in when a friend was paralyzed after falling on one.

“I always take the stairs. I have a phobia of escalators,” she said, adding that she carries her baby and stroller down the stairs every time rather than using the escalator.

In the main entrance to the Fabre station, a young woman who had just learned of the death pointed out the safety buttons to her mother, who admitted she’d never noticed them.

“A lot of people don’t even know there is a stop button there. It is very useful. Maybe if there had been a person with her they would have had the time to hit the button and save a life.”

ESCALATOR SAFETY TIPS:

— Step on and off quickly and carefully.— Hold the handrail.— Always stand and face forward. Never sit on the steps. — Keep hands, feet and clothing clear of moving parts. — Always wear shoes on escalators. — Do not ride escalators wearing loose clothing or with shoelaces dragging.— Hold the hand of young children. — Do not bring strollers, carts or large packages on escalators. If a stroller must be transported on an escalator, the child should be removed from the stroller and carried. (This would require two adults, as each must have a hand free to hold handrail.)

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